Wayne Rooney, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are also reported to have sent texts to the Liverpool captain, who could face up to five years in jail if convicted over the fight in the Lounge Inn bar-restaurant in Southport in the early hours of Monday morning.

Gerrard, 28, has told friends that he intends to clear his name and was said to be "soul searching" about the incident in which Marcus McGee, a businessman and part-time DJ, lost a tooth and suffered a gash on his head needing four stitches.